Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that the touchdown point of Chandrayaan 3 will be called ‘Shiv Shakti’. PM Modi's big announcement came at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru where he arrived today to greet the scientists behind the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission. The 'Shakti' in the name 'Shiv Shakti' comes from the hard work, inspiration and empowerment of the women scientists," he added.
Further underlining India's distinctive approach to innovation, he also proclaimed that the location where Chandrayaan 2 left its footprints will now be known as 'Tiranga'. He also announced that the day when Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon, August 23, would now be known as ‘National Space Day.
On August 23, India has created history with the successful soft landing of ISRO’s third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM), making it only the fourth country to do so, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite. Chandrayaan-3 mission has been on a journey to the moon since its launch on July 14. Chandrayaan-3’s lander (Vikram) has a rover (Pragyan) inside it. Launched on 14 July, the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, 35 days after the mission was launched.
A successful mission would make India only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, after the former USSR, the United States and China, and mark its emergence as a space power, just ahead of national elections next year.